“I thought they would just book me
and let me go like they did some other ones, before this. But no, I have to
stay put” (Kingsolver 408). Reading Why I Am a Danger to the Public by Barbara
Kingsolver upset me because it is a further example of how not long ago
minorities were openly discriminated against, and there were virtually no consequences
for the discriminators; which is why I decided to find more instances of
discrimination towards minorities by looking into the Civil Rights Movement.
It’s
very difficult to realize that only 60 years ago, African Americans were
fighting for their rights as citizens of this “great United States.” In fact,
we still have people alive that remember segregation. In the 1940s, while white Americans were
shocked over the Nazi’s obliterating an entire culture, they openly hated, beat
and killed African Americans for the color of their skin. It may not have
seemed as extreme as the Holocaust but it sure was reminiscent.
William
B. Harvey, Vice President and Director for the Center for Advancement of Racial
and Ethnic Equity, wrote a paper in which he talks about at age 6 when he was
out in the city with his grandmother. He was “brought up to be polite and
always respectful of his elders” (Harvey 44). So when his grandmother tried to
get the attention of the young white girl behind the counter by raising her
hand and addressing her as “ma’am”, he was very confused. Later when he was
asking his grandmother why she addressed the girl like that when “she was
someone so much younger” she explained that “was just the way it was between
white people and colored people” (Harvey 44). This was around the time the
infamous Brown V. Board of Education occurred, which deemed segregation in
schools as unconstitutional.
I think
we take for granted how far we have come. Today, if someone wanted to attend
the University of Alabama, the most they would have to worry about is having a
high enough GPA or enough money to pay for it. Nothing life or death. In 1963
George Wallace, the governor of Alabama at the time, blocked the door in front
of the school from black students trying to enroll; and he wasn’t alone in
wanting to prevent those students from attending. The assemblies against
desegregation, which by the way were more than just students, were closer to
riots than protests. Mobs of people
filled with hatred of students just trying to make a better life for themselves
by getting educated.
Another
important issue that Americans take for granted is the issue of voting. African
Americans men were granted voting rights in 1870, but were prevented from
voting with acts such as the Grandfather Clause, which prevented anyone from
registering to vote unless their grandfathers had been eligible, as well as the
poll tax. Voting was a luxury then and now we take it for granted. In the 2008
Presidential Elections, the voter turnout was 56.8 percent and that was higher than
usual. We complain about the issues of today yet we want to do nothing about
it; and frankly some of the issues aren’t as bad as they were compared to the
1960s.
The
protagonist Vickie Morales fought for what she believed in because she knew it
would get results. No matter who was talking about her behind her back or who
was pushing against her, she just dug her boots in and never let up. The people
fighting for their rights during the Civil Rights Movement were much like
Vickie and in the end, they succeeded.
"A
Timeline of Major Events in the American Civil Rights Movement |." A
Timeline of Major Events in the American Civil Rights Movement |. The
Majlessi Law Firm. Web. 09 May 2012
Barbara
Kingsolver. “Why I Am a Danger to the Public.” The Literary West: An Anthology of Western
American Literature.Ed. Thomas J. Lyon. New York: Oxford University Press
Inc., 1999. 396-409. Print.
"National
Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2010." Infoplease.
Infoplease, 2011. Web. 09 May 2012.
<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html>.
